diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/fetch.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/fetch.ts
index af37d5a3fc..76054b33cc 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/fetch.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/fetch.ts
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ export abstract class APIRequestContext extends SdkObject {
       setHeader(headers, 'content-length', String(postData.byteLength));
     const controller = new ProgressController(metadata, this);
     const fetchResponse = await controller.run(progress => {
-      return this._sendRequestWithRetries(progress, requestUrl, options, postData);
+      return this._sendRequestWithRetries(progress, requestUrl, options, postData, params.maxRetries);
     });
     const fetchUid = this._storeResponseBody(fetchResponse.body);
     this.fetchLog.set(fetchUid, controller.metadata.log);
@@ -247,14 +247,16 @@ export abstract class APIRequestContext extends SdkObject {
     }
   }
 
-  private async _sendRequestWithRetries(progress: Progress, url: URL, options: SendRequestOptions, postData?: Buffer): Promise<Omit<channels.APIResponse, 'fetchUid'> & { body: Buffer }>{
-    const maxRetries = 5;
+  private async _sendRequestWithRetries(progress: Progress, url: URL, options: SendRequestOptions, postData?: Buffer, maxRetries?: number): Promise<Omit<channels.APIResponse, 'fetchUid'> & { body: Buffer }>{
+    maxRetries ??= 5;
     let backoff = 250;
     for (let i = 0; i <= maxRetries; i++) {
       try {
         return await this._sendRequest(progress, url, options, postData);
       } catch (e) {
-        if (i === maxRetries - 1 || (options.deadline && monotonicTime() + backoff > options.deadline))
+        if (maxRetries === 0)
+          throw e;
+        if (i === maxRetries || (options.deadline && monotonicTime() + backoff > options.deadline))
           throw new Error(`Failed after ${i + 1} attempt(s): ${e}`);
         // Retry on connection reset only.
         if (e.code !== 'ECONNRESET')
diff --git a/tests/library/browsercontext-fetch.spec.ts b/tests/library/browsercontext-fetch.spec.ts
index a8aaeb389f..2551c4fc21 100644
--- a/tests/library/browsercontext-fetch.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/library/browsercontext-fetch.spec.ts
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ it('should throw on network error', async ({ context, server }) => {
   server.setRoute('/test', (req, res) => {
     req.socket.destroy();
   });
-  const error = await context.request.get(server.PREFIX + '/test').catch(e => e);
+  const error = await context.request.get(server.PREFIX + '/test', { maxRetries: 0 }).catch(e => e);
   expect(error.message).toContain('apiRequestContext.get: socket hang up');
 });
 
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ it('should throw on network error after redirect', async ({ context, server }) =
   server.setRoute('/test', (req, res) => {
     req.socket.destroy();
   });
-  const error = await context.request.get(server.PREFIX + '/redirect').catch(e => e);
+  const error = await context.request.get(server.PREFIX + '/redirect', { maxRetries: 0 }).catch(e => e);
   expect(error.message).toContain('apiRequestContext.get: socket hang up');
 });
 
diff --git a/tests/library/global-fetch.spec.ts b/tests/library/global-fetch.spec.ts
index e17f94b49d..b405f4d2b1 100644
--- a/tests/library/global-fetch.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/library/global-fetch.spec.ts
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ it('should throw an error when maxRedirects is less than 0', async ({ playwright
 
   const request = await playwright.request.newContext();
   for (const method of ['GET', 'PUT', 'POST', 'OPTIONS', 'HEAD', 'PATCH'])
-    await expect(async () => request.fetch(`${server.PREFIX}/a/redirect1`, { method, maxRedirects: -1 })).rejects.toThrow(`'maxRedirects' should be greater than or equal to '0'`);
+    await expect(async () => request.fetch(`${server.PREFIX}/a/redirect1`, { method, maxRedirects: -1 })).rejects.toThrow(`'maxRedirects' must be greater than or equal to '0'`);
   await request.dispose();
 });